Wait Is this Post Apocalyptic or Pre Apocalyptic?
by VeilsofSleep
Summary: With the weird and supernatural running rampant, a new market opened up after The Gate Crisis. Enter Saya Lin, a ghost hunter with a few tricks of her own. Tossed into a world more dangerous than scorned spirits and ghoulish ghosts, Saya has not a clue what she's in for. What a town. Hei/OC, Hei/Yin. Slight crossover with Ghost Hunt Three Ghost Hunters and a Baby
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1- Octavo Dia

It was a desolate place. In the old days there wasn't a single street or alley in Tokyo that was ever empty. Now, since Hell's Gate had appeared, there were places in the city that were always empty. Places that never knew the light of day or happiness. It was sad and unfortunate, especially since the empty street looked so pretty in the light snow. Little flakes of snow shimmered in the street light and looked like diamonds. For Saya they were as costly as diamonds and far more beautiful. It was a great sadness that no one was around to see the beauty.

"That damn gate," she murmured to herself and wrapped the purple scarf tighter around her neck. Her breath looked like icy mist. With a sigh, she started walking, feeling pity that the perfect snow was marred by her footsteps. Her long hair was pulled into a side braid and hidden under a woolly hat against the cold.

A shadow appeared then. It stood just across the street and drew her gaze. The green coat and faded jeans stood out almost garishly against the brilliant white snow. Both of them stopped walking and he froze when he sensed her gaze. He looked familiar; that dark messy hair and the way it fell into his eyes, his damned mournful eyes. She knew them; she had seen them before. All at once the memory came rushing back; at the ripe age of ten with a Mickey Mouse band aid on her knee, she had run from her father's office to greet the new neighbors whom happened to have a small boy her age. Before he could disappear, the girl hoped over the railing and ran across the street with a pleased smile on her face.

"Are you...?" she asked, recognition clear as day on her face, "I don't know if you remember me-"

"I do. The name's Li now." The reply was quick and almost regretful, "It's a little late out."

"I was just-"

"You shouldn't be out here." Swiftly, Li wrapped a firm grip on her wrist and forcefully persuaded her to walk with him. Some sort of strange feeling of protectiveness surged in him. Maybe it was because she was part of one of the few memories he had that were before the gate catastrophe, before everything fell apart. She was something pure and usually anything with even the tiniest bit of light went out near the gate. It was a curious feeling, but at the moment he decided to let it play as normal. It was dangerous this close to the gate, despite the nonchalance Saya was showing to the whole matter. In fact at the moment there was a dead contractor on a roof not too far away, "What are you doing out here anyway?"

"Nice to see you too." She retorted smartly, not resisting his grasp, "I was just visiting the old haunts."

"No not that, why were you wandering around so close to the gate?" he rephrased briskly.

"The snow just looked pretty," she shrugged lightly as though it was a matter of no importance, "It's just a little sad no one was around to see it." The city became more and more changed every time she visited. Shibuya Psychic Research was still afloat, the logic being that demons were more common now than ever with everything that happened and ghost hunters were high demand. The rumors of contractors and dolls always reached Naru, her boss and adopted uncle, first and he passed that information along to his colleagues, to keep them safe and away from dangerous jobs, "What are_ you_ doing here?"

He internally cringed; of course she would ask that. Saya Lin always had been a particularly contrary person. If he said yes, she would say no. If he said 'let's get ice cream' she wanted hot chocolate.

"Just out for a walk."

"So close to the gate?" she mimicked his tone almost perfectly and earned herself a small glare that looked mildly menacing in the dull light, "Sorry, sorry!" Shaking his head, he shoved onward, "Pressing on: Where are we going?"

"Dinner." The word was as curt as every other syllable he had spoken. Ten years had changed them greatly, but they had kept track of each other through their various sources. He was well aware that she had studied Brahmin Hinduism in India, and philosophy at Harvard. Even molecular genetics at Oxford for a short time. Vice versa, she was aware that Li had disappeared off to South America during the Heaven's Gate incident and then she lost track of him after that. This was the first time she thought about him years.

"Why? To catch up?"

"If you want."

He seemed far more sad and lonely than he had all those years ago; very much like that beautiful street that no one gave the light of day too. It made her sad.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Curiosity. It was the first genuine feeling she had seen light up his features.

"For whatever you lost." Her explanation wasn't very elaborate, but he understood it anyway, "I'm sure you must've lost something. You haven't smiled once since we met."

"There isn't much to smile about anymore."

"What about Xing?"

"She died." He spoke with the same indifference that Naru had once spoken with when he told them Gene, his brother, was dead. It infuriated her a little bit, and made her nostalgic mostly, "What about your family?"

Saya looked thoughtful at first, "Well Mai, Naru and Monk run SPR together and it's international now." Mai, Naru's significant other, and Naru were watching were balancing their time between their twins and the business, "Believe it or not, Ayako and Masako opened a shrine together in Kyoto and John is working in the Vatican now." SPR was spread far apart, but Saya made sure she saw everyone of them at least once or a twice a year.

"And your father?"

She swallowed, her throat felt tight at mention of him; "He lives in London now."

Now she was the one with the brisk answers. Li was sure there was more to the story, but didn't bother her for answers. Unlike Saya, he didn't need to fill the air with as much chatter as possible; he attributed that particular quirk to the fact that her father was an incredibly silent man and in response she needed to talk to fill up the silence. Just because he understood it didn't mean it wasn't ever so slightly annoying.

"We're here." He stopped in front of a small apartment complex.

"What?" she raised an eyebrow.

"We're having dinner a'la Li tonight," he explained heading up the stairs. After a single glance back at the empty street, she followed him up and they stopped in front of room 201. After fishing for keys, Li swiftly opened the door and led her inside. She deposited her coat on a hanger next to where he placed his trench and followed him into the kitchen.

"A home cooked meal," she mused with a small smile. Last time she ate a home cooked meal was during Christmas break when Mai plopped a large freshly bake apple pie in front of her right after a large and scrumptious meal. The entire Davis family had been in attendance and even Lin and Monk joined them. It was during that dinner that the incident happened. The reasons she was avoiding a home cooked meal, "Sounds better than all the ramen I've been eating."

"Ramen," Li scoffed. That was hardly a means of sustenance. True enough he ate out often, but even he ad standards of some sort. Expertly he chopped up some chicken and nudged it into a wok with some rice. A trained hand flipped the food inside the wok.

"Yeah, it's pretty sad, but my experience with a wok is heavily lacking," Saya explained settling comfortably on the counter nearby. She swung her feet as they dangled over the edge and swung them back and forth a little bit. Childish yes, but the counter was high...or she was just short.

"So you skipped out on that height stuff huh?" The insult was drawn with the same empty voice as almost everything else he said. She was almost tempted to blow a raspberry at him in a fit of childish fury, but she resisted. No doubt more mocking would follow if she did. Admittedly she wasn't too short, not like Yin, but still she wasn't super model tall either and Hei had spoken the sentence in an attempt to make her feel more comfortable.

"Well you took my share." She retorted with a slight huff in her voice. The boy she once knew had grown quite tall...and muscular if she was seeing correctly through that white shirt. Shaking her head, she stopped ogling him. It was the first time she had had direct contact with him in early ten years. Sure they'd emailed back and forth for a while and then he disappeared off the face of the fucking world, but past that they were just old acquaintances, "Look I'm sorry for practically jumping you out there. I should probably just go back to my hotel."

"If you want," he shrugged. Any food he made would be finished regardless of whether she stayed or not, "But the snow's starting to get worse and dinner will be ready in a bit." The food was starting to smell pretty good and the weather outside was indeed getting worse. There was a sliver of sky still visible outside where a few stars twinkled weakly.

A few stars shone through and Li followed her gaze, "A star's falling." If the rumours were true that meant a contractor just died. She shuddered, "it's funny. They're not shooting stars anymore, they're falling stars."

"What do you think of it?" he asked her curiously. For some reason her opinion on the subject mattered, even if he couldn't pinpoint why.

"I've never met a contractor," she replied shrugging, "so I can't really have any sort of opinion can I?"

"People have opinions regardless of knowledge," it was a hard truth that he knew. Most people were of the opinion that contractors were unfeeling bastards with not a care but their own self preservation.

"Well, I'm well aware that there's no way to tell the difference between contractors and humans," she replied revealing a bit of information that not many knew. In fact it was highly classified and Saya knew this and ignored the look of mild surprise in his eyes, "And who knows, maybe I have met a contractor. I think when anything dies it's a tragedy but it's a bigger tragedy that contractors are used only as assassins." She looked up at the sky again, she couldn't find the hole that the falling star had left in the sky, "I think this whole 'system' that's formed since the gates appeared is wrong. And I miss the sky, the real one."

The last bit seemed irrelevant, but important none the less. It was an opinion he himself shared. He too missed the sky. The simple fact that even through the dark vastness one could still find familiar points of light. He didn't like that all those old points of light, the constellations of his childhood that were so familiar, simply vanished.

"I miss it too." He started pouring the food out into dishes and plates and bowls. Almost every piece of kitchenware he had was being used up, but he never bought anymore, "Can I ask how you know all that information about contractors and stars?"

"Rumours, just like you must've found too," she shrugged. Li didn't bother to correct her; better that she not know she was facing a real life contractor, "Not even Naru can get real information from Pandora or any other government or organization. We work mostly off rumours and leaks."

"What do Ghost Hunters have to do with the gates?" he wondered aloud.

"Well the gate is supernatural, so those that work with supernatural entities and tend to be mostly successful are in high demand now," she replied with a small smile playing on her lips. It was how she made quite a few large stacks of cash. Consultant work was now a booming business especially for those with a good reputation, like the SPR had.

"So basically you should be treating _me_ to dinner," he concluded sarcasm oozing in his voice.

"Too late, you offered, I'm eating." She settled at the table and snatched the first helping out of his hands.

"How eloquent."

"Thanks a bunch," she retorted, her words slurred a little bit because of the food in her mouth. Grabbing a glass of water she swallowed it whole, "So what are you up to nowadays?"

"Nothing too impressive, just odd jobs here and there," he explained, speedily eating his own food with only a little bit more dignity. It seemed his appetite hadn't changed in years. Instead, if anything it seemed to have increased. She let out a small chuckle and took another bite of her own plate. It was a little chilly in the apartment, but she didn't seem to mind it then. For the first time in a while she felt comfortable in a place, completely at ease, "Are you in town on a job?"

"No, I'm actually going to be living here for the foreseeable future," she replied once again looking thoughtful. It went noted that she did not mention why she was staying in Tokyo, especially when none of her family were living in the vicinity, "I have an apartment and everything."

"You're living in a place that could disappear tomorrow." The gate disappearing was always a very real possibility. The entirety of the city could be annihilated in the blink of an eye, flattened taking every single person with it. It was a thought that had passed through his mind more than once.

"Well, when the world does end, I just hope is goes out with a whimper," she shrugged nonchalantly. Death frightened her and the gate destroying everything frightened her more, but both those things were inevitabilities and Saya refused to live life according to death and destruction, "It would be great if all the destruction and drama stayed to the minimum."

She was one to talk about keeping drama to the minimum. She loved theatricality more than anyone else he could remember. Li kept his opinion to himself however. Her opinion was quite valid; he'd faced the hullabaloo of an apocalypse before and it was nothing he wanted to see again. Li knew the chaos that would follow. It would be easier if the world died quietly. But that was the opposite of what intuition told him; survival was something that had to fought for, even if it was someone else's. It was something Li fought for almost every time he walked out his front door.

"Do not go gentle into that good night, rage rage against the dying of the light," he quoted quietly.

"You don't agree?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No I don't," he replied simply, "I would always fight for life."

After a moments deliberation she spoke, "How about this, when the world ends comes I'll fight to keep some little piece of it alive."

"And I'll fight for the rest of it," he acknowledged.

"Speaking of hypothetical apocalypses, what happened in Heaven's War?" she asked the question that he should have been expecting. She was proving to be cleverer than he had imagined she could have been. When he first met her, Saya had been a ten year old with big wide questioning eyes and a very loud mouth. They argued everyday for the entirety of the time that his family rented out an apartment next to SPR's offices and he couldn't say that he ever won any of those arguments. It seemed like vain hope that he would be able to deter now.

"I can't remember the details," he lied instead, "Though I'm pretty sure that's how P-Xing died."

"Hm, I see," she replied slowly and lazily leaned back on her hands.

After what seemed like and eon the snow slowed down a bit. In that time, they had consumed the entirety of a cheesecake and shared several glasses of tea. The conversation had its peaks and lulls, but Li didn't feel it was ever odd or awkward when talking to her and he didn't have to lie as often either. Whenever a certain question seemed to make him hesitate she immediately changed the conversation. Knowing when to drop a topic was one of Saya's good habits and she managed to keep a near constant stream of interesting topics which kept him engaged.

"Ready to go?" she asked him with a smile. Wrapped up in a scarf and a thick coat, she was waiting just outside his doorway with her boots pulled on and her gloved hands stuffed in her pockets. Despite what he was, even Li believed in a certain measure of propriety; he could hardly let her walk all the way back to her apartment alone. Locking his door, he followed Saya as she bounded down the stairs and ran tracks into the freshly fallen snow.

"Is that really necessary?"

"Yup!" she smiled falling in step with him as they walked down the street. For the briefest of seconds a true smile appeared on the Black Reaper's face. Something which he thought died a long time ago.

* * *

Weeks went by and things became rather routine. Saya hadn't bumped into any other old acquaintances and for that matter she hadn't seen Li again either. Instead she spent her time working with scientists from Pandora, the police, and a few researchers around the city. On this particular day she had been summoned to a crime scene. After pushing her way past reporters and people alike, she found herself barred by a few officers and yellow crime scene tape. A young officer in a red coat met her on site.

"I'm Saya Lin," she introduced handing her ID to the man. He observed it for a second before smiling at her.

"Nice to meet ya, name's Yukata Kono," he explained and held up the crime scene tape for her. Obligingly, she ducked under it and followed him. They were in the warehouse district this time, apparently some contractor had made a mess in some abandoned old building and left behind enough blank spots that she was needed to explain it. Along with her obvious abilities as a spiritualist, she had one other useful skill; Saya could use psychometry, "Gotta warn you though, this is a bad one."

What he meant by 'bad one' was automatically apparent when they walked into the warehouse. The blood spatter was enough to make Saya automatically wince. The bodies were enough to make her a little sick. They were mangled and disfigured. What from what she could see, someone had sliced open their torsos vertically leaving the heart, lungs and ribs on display. Things that should remain in the body were left in the dirt. From the quick glance she got, it seemed like someone had been _searching_ for something inside the bodies of those men. She shuddered visibly. The farther they walked, the more pronounced the blood got.

"Ms. Lin, I'm Chief Misaki Kirihara," a female officer in a suit and glasses swiftly walked towards them. Though she looked all business, her eyes softened as they spotted the pain in Saya's eyes. Despite having seen some pretty awful things, she hadn't directly seen something quite so gruesome, "If you don't look, it won't bother you." The advice was solid and Saya averted her eyes, "We have a few items from the men who died, could you possibly tell us anything about their death or who they were?" blinking, she nodded and held out her hand. The first item she was handed was a cross wrapped in a small Ziploc bag. She didn't take it out, but moved her fingers over the smooth plastic.

_A dripping sound. Water? _

_The silver of a knife, a k-bar slicing through flesh. _Wincing, Saya continued searching, looking for a relevant and far less painful memory.

"_Give it to me."_

"_No, never." One of the victims was speaking. He was staring at a man who was shrouded in the shadows of the warehouse. He couldn't make out the face properly, but that voice was familiar. It was the same one who killed his comrades. A glance to right revealed the two mangled bodies of his colleagues._

_Bile rose in his throat._

"_I suggest you hand over the drug."_

"_No."_

"_I guess I'll have to find it myself."_

_A knife struck before he could react._

With a loud gasp, Saya dropped the cross and took a decided step back.

"A contractor was after a drug of some sort," she explained taking a quick breath, "he seemed to think that these men had the drug inside them."

"That explains their wounds," Kirihara commented lightly, "Did you find any names or what the drug was?"

If only they could be so lucky. Dead people tended to keep their secrets as religiously as living people did and it wasn't different here.

"No, but a contractor was definitely involved," she replied, "and I have a feeling this is bigger than what it looks like right now. The man who wore this cross, he had a feeling of..." she thought for a second trying pinpoint the right word, "Like he was worried for the common good of something bigger." It was vague but it was all she really had, "The drug had test subjects. The contractor thought these men had the drug inside them. Apparently he was wrong."

"I see," Misaki nodded. This was why Saya liked working with the police; they didn't discount what she said even if it wasn't always clear. Especially Officer Kirihara, they had met on a few prior occasions and Saya found that though she was a bit cold, she was very kind, "Kono, take her down to the station and get her statement." Misaki surveyed the girl once more, "And buy her lunch." She looked dead on her feet.

"Yeah, I was working in a lab until about four in the morning, I haven't been home yet," she explained her rather haggard appearance as meagrely as she could. The various organizations around the city were certainly taking advantage of Saya's abilities.

"Well, you have the day off once you've given us your statement," Misaki assured, offering her one small smile. With a nod she followed Kono out of the warehouse and past the yellow crime scene tape to his car. The officer was of a good natured spirit and followed his boss's order to a tee; she had a large burger and fries sitting in her lap before they pulled in any police station and he insured that she ate at least a few bites before leading her inside.

"You know I never believed any of this stuff," Kono commented lightly as they sat at his desk. Spiritualists, ghosts, monsters; these things were always fiction and Kono always had a good grasp of fact. Heaven's gate and later Hell's gate changed that. She was just reading over the statement one last time before signing it, "The gate appearing changed a lot of things."

"Yes it did." She scribbled her name at the bottom in pen and handed the papers back him, "I'm sorry that it took a gate disaster for you to see the merit of what we do."

"Well, I'm glad you're here now," the young officer commented. He was probably her age, and he looked as tired as she did and had probably been working far longer.

"Have a good day, Detective," she nodded at him with a knowing smile on her face before she left.

Just as the police realized the importance of people with the unique abilities that Saya had, others with more nefarious and unpleasant purposes realized the same thing. What the police could take advantage of so could the underworld. It was unfortunate that currently, a certain young woman just painted a large target on her back. It was far easier to find things when someone could draw out a map and with the right tools Saya could. Even as she wandered back to her apartment, there was a deceptive tail following her. No one would have spotted it, but Hei was working, this time at a second hand book shop. Lucky for Saya, she spotted him and stopped for a chat. Narrowing his eyes while Saya spoke, Li spotted the tail and noted the overall profile of the driver.

"I didn't know you worked here," she commented looking amid the shelves and old books. Her hand touched a leather bound book of poetry and she wondered if this was where he found that Dylan Thomas quote he whispered to her at dinner.

"Yeah, I just started recently," he returned his attention to the woman before him and found she looked a little bit different than the last time he saw her. Her hair? Yes, she got it cut, she had bangs now. It was a pleasant look on her face and Li tilted his head a little bit, "How's work?" Saya looked beyond overworked.

"It's going," she shrugged not to keen of getting into the specifics of her sometimes unpleasant job. The scene from this morning stuck out prominently in her head. The colour of blood was stay on her mind for weeks to come, Saya was sure of it, "You?"

"Everything's fine." He too wished to remain mum on the subject of his 'work' which consisted mostly of illegal things including the occasional assassination. He too was overworked, but at least last night he had a full night's sleep. Lifting the poetry book out of his hands, she studied the cover and flipped through some of the aged pages.

"Could you ring this up for me?" Holding the book out, Saya looked at him imploringly. Though he couldn't fathom why she would buy the thin book, he nodded and set his stack down. Walking behind the counter he quickly inputed the book number and told her the price. With a wry smile on her face, she passed him a few bills and accepted the book and her change.

"Well I guess I'll see you around," Li waved just as she was about to leave. Right back outside to the tail who was probably watching her for less than nice purposes. Contractors were supposed to believe in nothing but self preservation, but if he had a conscious, Li was sure he would stop her and probably escort her home. Regret filled him as she waved back and disappeared into the cold street. It twisted at his stomach and was almost physically painful. Guilt, he mused, must also be the sign of a conscious.

* * *

When she reached her apartment, Saya set her bag, coat and gloves down on her couch and set about boiling water for tea. Her very bones were ice popsicles and only a good strong cup of Early Grey would probably defrost her toes. After scouring her cupboards for a bit while the kettle heated up, she also found some biscuits. It was the sort of tea time that the elder Mrs. Davis would have scoffed at, but honestly it was just impressive that Saya had managed to successfully make tea without breaking a cup. Her apartment was always a few degrees colder than she liked and Saya attributed it to the fact that she had high ceilings and a rather large gloomy hallway. In fact the only rooms in the apartment that she used were the bedroom, the bathroom and the kitchen into which she had dragged a couch so she wouldn't have to venture into the other lonely rooms. There were two spaces heaters in her bedroom to keep her warm at night and a thick blanket in her kitchen. Just as she was about to settle on her kitchen couch, a knock on the door drew Saya's attention.

"Yes?" she asked pulling the door open. Standing in front of her doorway was a debonair looking man with a white suit and a cigarette at the end of his fingers. Blonde hair framed a pale face and there was a dry smile on his face.

"My name is Jack Simpson, Ma'am, I'm with the British Secret Service," he introduced with an English accent that surprised her. The familiarity of it reminded her of London and Oxford and the gloomy rain and warm biscuits fresh from the oven. Of a sense of home. Shaking her head, Saya brought her attention to what the man had just told her.

_British Secret Service_

... "You're a spy..."

"And they said you were clever..."

"Can I see your identification?" she asked sharply, not taking kindly to the insult. Obligingly, he handed her a card that plainly stated both his name and the title 'British Secret Service'. That meant there was no chance she could punch him the face without causing an international incident, "And you want what again?"

"Ms Lin, we've been alerted to a situation," he explained silkily, flicking some ash onto the ground making Saya roll her nose at the smell. Trying to be inconspicuous, she tried to nudge the ash out of her apartment with her foot, but he saw her and paused for a second, "Apparently you're recent work around the city has caught the attention of all the wrong people."

"Such as?"

"Well now, that's classified," he sent her another clever smile that wasn't altogether unpleasant looking. He was charming if nothing else.

"And they want what with me?"

"When we find that out, it will be classified."

Another smile. It was maddening.

"So persons unknown are interested in me, and the British Secret Servant sent you to...?" she coaxed for more information.

"Ah yes," he nodded with another smirk gracing his lips, "There is a car parked across the street from your building, they've been watching you since this morning when you went to that ugly little crime scene. We can only assume they want you for some purpose. Probably not a pleasant one." Thrusting his ID back into his hands, she left Jack Simpson standing there and hurried to her window. Indeed parked across the street was a green Toyota with a single man inside. Spotting her at the window, he immediately started his car and swerved into traffic before disappearing down the street.

Definitely surveillance.

"Alrighty, now what?" she turned. Jack had made himself at home and was helping himself to _her _tea and _her_ cookies.

"This pathetic tea," he commented taking a sip of it.

"_Excuse me_, could we stay on track?" Saya asked darkly.

"Yes, yes, we're going to take you to a safe house until we can figure out the motives of these unknown persons who probably wish you harm."

"Probably?"

"Mostly likely," Jack replied standing up, "Here's your coat and gloves." Murmuring curses under her breath, Saya pulled on her jacket and gloves. Grabbing her bag and keys she was about to leave when she stalled and ran back to grab the poetry book. Shoving it in her large bag, Saya followed Jack out the back door where a black car was waiting with a dark skinned woman and a small child. Like the gentlemen he was, Jack held open the door for her.

Shooting him a hard look, she settled in the back of car, "this is your team?"

"Yes," he replied, "The child is not my own if you're wondering. I'm completely available."

"Eyes on the road, jagoff." She retorted swiftly crossing her arms into a pout. Irritation was as clear as day on her face and April snickered lightly from the front the seat.

"You have quite a way with women," she commented with a smirk on her face.

"You know it love." He was incorrigible.

* * *

"A shipping container?" she looked at the rusted box of metal with two parts pissed offishness and one part curiosity. Her glare was directed at the Mr. Simpson who had a pleasantly amused look on his face, "And a portable toilet?"

"Yes, perfect for anonymity."

"These two things do not equal a safe _house_."

"Sorry love, my math's always been a bit off."

After a tortuously slow drive through Tokyo traffic they had arrived at the Port of Tokyo and rather than staying at one of the fancy hotels less than five minutes away, her escorts had driven through security and drove right up to the water. Out of an immeasurable number of shipping containers they stopped at one that was painted an obnoxious yellow colour and expected her to step in without a single query or complaint. Well Saya would damned if she went so quietly. Not even in their darkest times had the SPR ever lowered themselves to sleeping in rusted metal containers. Now April was willing to bet a hundred quid that the little woman would pop a cap in November 11's ass if he did not start back pedaling very quickly. Of course he didn't so it was just lucky that Saya didn't have any caps to pop into asses.

"Alright." She took a deep breath and quelled the urge to kick this man in his non de plumes, "I'm going to walk to a hotel and book a room. Farewell you ass clown." With a mock salute, Saya turned heel and started walking away. The agents looked at each other with varying degrees of amusement.

"You get to fetch her, since you pissed her off." April quickly washed her hands of this situation and July tagged after her.

"This suit's just been dry cleaned," he whined. With a low growl, he lowered on his haunches and then took off. With an almighty dash, he rugby tackled Saya to the ground and simultaneously covered her face to muffle any yell that might alarm the guards. Turning on his side, he ensured that she would remain mostly uninjured and they landed hard on the ground. For a few seconds Saya was still with shock. Then she came back to life.

"OW! Jesus, you bit my hand!" Jack sounded incredibly insulted and the palm on her face quickly disappeared.

"Get the FUCK of me!" she growled, starting to fidget and kick. When her knee got dangerously close to talking out his family jewels, Jack let go. Scrambling to her feet, Saya glared at him menacingly.

"Come along darling, we don't have all day."

It was clear that if she tried to walk away again, she would meet similar results. For the moment, she was outnumbered and alone. That and there were probably bad guys out there out for her blood. She had no choice but to agree with this buffoon's plan and sit in the dingy container until the danger had passed. Letting out a loud curse, she followed him back to the shipping container and with after receiving a coaxing glance, she went inside.

* * *

A/N: Alright here we go. The start of yet another story. Updates for this will likely be sporadic. This is a slight crossover with Ghost Hunt for any fans of that anime. It follows the life of my character Saya Lin, who's all grown up now. I'm going to try follow cannon with a little of bit of Hei/OC where I can fit it.

Drop me a line!


	2. Chapter 2

Sliding over some yen, Hei waited and Yin slide a pack of cigarettes back to him. They nodded at each other and he walked away, leaving a candy on the counter for her as had become custom. As he passed through the crowded street, he dropped the box into the trash inconspicuously and pocketed the information that was inside it. Once he was at the book shop and his manager disappeared in the back to drink vodka, Hei slipped the two note cards out of his pocket. The first featured a picture of a woman he knew well; Saya Lin.

_Saya Lin. 25. _

_Currently in hiding with three MI6 agents stationed in Tokyo. Hunted by a rogue faction of Pandora called Discordia. They want to use her powers to recover a drug formulated by a Pandora scientist. The scientist, Rob Hawkins, was murdered last week and the formula disappeared. _

The rest of card only told him information about her that he already knew. At least this explained the tail that had been following her. The second card had more information about Discordia and about the drug they were after.

_Discordia is composed of former security force members and experimental subjects from Pandora. They have both contractors and dolls among their number. We can estimate that there are at least five contractors on their payroll, one of which has the power to detonate explosives with his mind. From what we can gather, they branched off from Pandora early last year after a bomb went off in a Pandora laboratory. The incident was covered up, but secretly Pandora has tried to hunt down Discordia. They attack swiftly, and quickly. _

_The formula of the drug is unknown. The effects are unknown._

"It's your job to find the formula and cause some discord among Discordia," Mao waddled in through the door, his black fur shining, ever luminous. The cat-contractor perched himself on a low stack of books and surveyed Hei carefully. Thanks to his snooping, Mao already knew that Hei knew Ms. Lin, though he didn't know for how long or how deeply he felt. The mission was just another mission, but Saya was the wild card which could change the outcome and Mao was already preparing himself for unpredictably.

"Identify the key players and take them out, steal back the drug." Hei summarized in one sentence.

Simple enough.

The manager of this bookstore was the biggest drug dealer in town and a big enough scum bag that he heard all the rumours. No doubt, he had some valuable information about this particular Pandora formulated drug and about Discordia. That left with the question of what to do with Saya. It was a large question mark in his head as he could honestly say he had no idea. The MI6 agents were good, but he wondered if they were good enough.

"What about Ms. Lin?" Mao asked the question with interest laced in his voice.

"Just a very old friend."

* * *

Only a few hours had gone by, but everyone sitting in the shipping container was reaching their breaking point. Without a great effort, Saya had proven to be both vindictive and more than complacent with making every else around her as miserable as she was.

And oh yes, she was a loud mouthed whiny little trollop was choosing to wear on everyone's nerves. More specifically Jack's.

Being pleasant in this situation would take far too much effort so Saya chose to bitch to hell for as long as she could before someone smashed her over the head with crowbar. Even July, who for all intents and purposes showed no emotion _ever_, had a slight tic in his eyebrow suggesting that he was not pleased. The temperature was also steadily dropping in the container on top of everything else as sunset fell.

"Tell me, my dears, how do you intend to figure out why these people are after me by sitting in a goddamn lunch box all day?" Saya asked sitting cross legged on the floor. Had she been quiet, it would've looked like she was meditating. If only. _If only._ "I thought you were super awesome agents or spies or whatever, but all I've seen thus far is a pair of cigarette addicted, alcohol drinking adults and one very minor child who seems to have the conversational skills of a cucumber. And none of you seem to have any weapons. What are we going to do if we get raided or attacked or something?!"

"Our investigation and our methods are none of your business," Jack replied coolly.

"The hell it is!" she retorted sharply and threw an empty beer can at his head, which he not only caught, but also whipped back at her in one swift movement.

"OW!"

It knocked her in the back of the head and would no doubt leave a very large mark. Ten points. Whoop-tee-fucking-doo. Jack cursed his terrible luck again, "Jackass. I can't believe they gave _you_ a license to kill. Fucking Jack Simpson. I bet that's an alias too. No one could possibly have such a _stupid _name."

The vein in November 11's forehead throbbed. He chose that alias out himself.

"Don't rise to her taunt," April warned.

"Bastard probably can't rise to anything."

That was it.

"Yeah well, you're a little trollop who can't catch and-" he cut off for a second scrambling for another insult, "You have stupid hair!"

So much for maturity. April and July both exchanged sighs.

"Oh bravo with the insult there. What are you, a teenager?" Saya retorted venomously. They both huffed.

"Blazing bitch."

"Incorrigibly horrendous bastard."

The rumbling of a car engine drew their attention. Finally something to break this mind numbing afternoon.

"Thank God," April stood up and dropped her last can of Guinness on the ground, "Something to kill."

The three agents walked out first with Saya walking cautiously behind them. The car stood impassively in front of them about twenty feet away. The windows were tinted and but they could see the outlines of two people in the front seat. With great anticipation November 11 and April readied themselves. The doors snapped open and the anticipation grew. Then-

"Chief Kirihara?" There was true disappointment in Jack's voice. And he had so been looking forward to beating the living crap out of something. The police chief was followed by Detective Saito who looked at the menacing glare on April's face and then proceeded to back up a few paces and Kono simply swallowed, "What a surprise."

"November 11, what are you doing here?" she narrowed her eyes, but Misaki holstered her gun.

"We are protecting little Miss Crackpot over there," Jack pointed a thumb behind him at the woman and held obvious distaste in his voice, "You?"

"We caught some chatter, whoever's tracking her found your hideout," Misaki explained quickly. It was pure chance that they had caught it at all. Just a local snitch, some kid, told them about a gang known as Discordia and suggested that they may have had something to do with the triple murder from this morning. Furthermore, he suggested that a certain spiritualist might be the new target of said gang. From there it was easy to 'convince' him to tell them if the location of the girl had leaked.

"They'll be here in minutes," Saito added with urgency.

"Finally, let's get out of here," Saya hurried past Jack towards the open doors of the car that would be her freedom. Sticking out one hand, Jack yanked her by the hood of her coat and Saya fell heavily on the ground ass first. Before she could curse him, she saw was he had just pulled her away from. A dart was imbedded deeply into the ground where she had just been standing.

"They're here now." Jack turned to face the direction from whence the dart came. Something else flew at them and they all spotted it just in time.

"Grenade!" April yelled lifting July into arms, "Duck!"

With barely enough time, they all dashed behind a large pile of metal containers. The bang was louder than Saya expected and happened far sooner than it should have. The entire ground seemed to shake and jar with the explosion. It was nothing like in the movies or in books; this was real and with her ears ringing she felt Kono and Saito pulling her along. They walked out of their hiding place to find that both Jack's-or November 11's car and Kirihara's car were nothing but pieces of twisted metal. There were a few dying flames and embers, but Saya could still feel the heat the explosion left behind. It looked like a small warzone. Past the explosion site stood two men dressed in fatigues.

"Kono, get her out of here!" Misaki ordered quickly as the first one charged at them.

Yanking Saya along, they hurtled down a small path between stacks of containers and went running. Distant sounds of battle grew fainter as they ran through the maze of metal. Every now and then, they would turn, picking up a new path, but never seemed to find their way out. Though Kono had no idea which way was out, he knew getting away from the fight was crucial. Pulling out his cell phone he quickly ordered back up in the form of as many units as possible and a SWAT team. For her part, Saya was panting and just tried to keep up with his pace. Another blast went off, this time much closer to them then Kono would've liked.

"Stop!" he hissed as Saya and held his gun out, poised to shoot at the first sign of movement. Over the silence he heard a single click, "DUCK!" With almighty shove, he pushed Saya to the ground and landed on top of her, his arms splaying to try and protect her. They saw a bang of light and felt a heavy heat against their backs. Kono felt something bounce of his shoulder, but felt no pain.

"Well hello kiddies." A gravelly voice made them turn. Behind him a stack of containers had been fantastically wiped out and there was nothing but a crater left. The man himself wore a black tuxedo complete with hat underneath which he had dark slicked black hair and menacing viper green eyes, "Ah you're still alive, excellent!" He sounded almost giddy and bubbly. Nudging with his foot, he pushed Kono's limp body completely away from Saya. It was only then she noted the shrapnel in his shoulder. Barely conscious, he could do little to stop this man.

"What do you want?" Saya asked in a voice that was bolder than she felt.

"You, of course." Before he could lay a hand on her, a grappling hook like metal wire wrapped itself around his wrist and the man was sent flying ten feet away, his hat fluttering to the ground. A mask appeared in her vision and as suddenly as it came it reappeared a few feet away, between her and the tuxedo.

Her heart was pounding in her head and Saya realized with a slight shock who this was. _The Black Reaper._

"Fuck!" she cursed under her breath and while both the contractors were distracted with one another, she crawled over to the injured Kono. His pulse was strong and there didn't seem to be too much blood, but that left them with the problem of the piece of metal sticking out of his back, "Officer? Kono?!"

" 'm fine," he muttered, using her shoulder as a lever, he pulled himself into a half sitting position, "Get behind me." With a huff of breath, he managed to get to his knees and kept his gun trained in the general direction of the contractors.

They were staring each other down, getting a feel for their targets. Flicking out a hand, tuxedo tossed a clump of what looked like white clay at The Black Reaper who dodged it elegantly by launching a wire at a ten foot high stack of containers. It took Hei less than an instant to realize this was the contractor he had been warned about and that the clump of clay was actually C4. Just as the clay exploded, his black coat swished once in the flames and then flew through the air to the top of the stack. Simultaneously, a wire wrapped itself around tuxedo's neck. Like lightening, electricity forked its way down the wire, but before it could reach its target, Tuxedo cut the wire with what looked to be a switch blade.

"We should run," Kono panted, forcing himself to standing position. He could feel the pain now. It fucking _hurt_. Saya hadn't realized she was holding her breath. With a nod, she braced her arm against his good shoulder and they hobbled off as fast as possible, which wasn't very fast. Their only hope was that the contractors were able to keep each other distracted long enough for Saya and Kono to escape.

* * *

Hei was thus far unimpressed for the most part. This clown had the ability to detonate explosives at will as evidenced by the clump of C4 he tried to kill Hei with. And admittedly, Tuxedo also snipped one of his wires and successfully evaded death...for now. But this whole 'duck duck C4' game was starting to get very tiresome. With a grunt, Hei side rolled out of the way of yet another explosion and landed on the balls off his feet. Like an angry panther, he retaliated with a hard kick to the stomach of Tuxedo.

"Son of a Bitch!" the man staggered and then found his defensive stance, "Why is the syndicate interfering, Black Reaper?" The words were indignant and not worth a reply, "Why are you coming to save that girl?" explosion, "Do you want the formula for yourself?!" explosion.

The end of Hei's blade ran true and wrapped around Tuxedo's ankle. Yanking it, Hei dropped the man to his knees and quickly launched an energy surge. Convulsing, Tuxedo let out a dying yell of pain and then fell silent after a few seconds; his face was still contorted in pain and fear. With a sigh, Hei pulled his line back and stood up. In the distance he could see a spiral of grey clouds. It seemed MI6 was taking care of its problems well enough. No doubt Kirihara was getting in a few punches as well. It was good enough for now.

* * *

Having a piece of metal stuck in one's back tends to make one slow. Saya was learning this the hard way as Kono moved forward with a grunt of pain. They had only made about twenty feet away from the in the last five minutes and judging by the silence, the fight was over. Meaning one of those two was about to crawl out of the woodwork and kill them.

"Run," Kono ordered.

"Like hell. I'm not leaving you here," Saya replied as they took another step. She could see an end to the currently little path they were walking along. On either side of her there were containers pressing in, leaving about a two feet of space for both she and Kono to blunder through.

A shadow loomed in her exit.

"Well fuck."

A man in a mask and trench coat appeared blocking their exit.

"I guess we know who won the fight." With a sigh, Saya gently lowered Kono to the ground. Though she did not particularly like the Reaper, she couldn't say that she wasn't glad Tuxedo was dead.

"Saya, no!" Kono glared at her adamantly.

"Peace." With a wave of peace sign behind her back, Saya went to meet the Black Reaper.

* * *

"Christ these bastards are pissing me off!" April hollered over her own storm. They were all soaking wet, but as of yet November 11 hadn't been able to freeze anyone. The water raged down upon them, but the buggers were fast, "I mean who in the hell can do that? I call bloody foul!"

"Do what?" November 11 called dodging an attack of arrows from one of the men who he had dubbed Arrowhead. Arrowhead had the ability to control the direction of a flying object. Example? He would shoot an arrow and then make it chase after its prey. A very annoying technique. Their little buddy July was currently hanging off Saito's back. Both officers were point their guns at the two assailants, but they were moving too quickly and to close to the MI6 agents for either cop to fire off a shot without risking killing November 11 or April.

"They're dry my _fucking_ water!" she retorted sharply; the bastard could make steam. _Steam._

"Fuck!" November 11 let out a growl as an arrow scraped his upper left arm, leaving a deep gouge. He braced himself against a slick metal container and shook water out of his eyes. April really was carrying it a bit far with the storm. A glance to his right revealed something intriguing. Steam boy had a hand braced against the same wet container.

"Bastard!" He let out a yell when he tried to dodge April's attack and left part of himself stuck to the container. With a mildly horrified expression he surveyed the bloodied stump where his hand used to be, then he spied said hand frozen solid to the metal and let out a loud pained shriek. His partner appeared by his side, the two looked about ready to team up and fight together. Behind them, November 11 spotted Saito and Kirihara pushing a large metal container towards the two baddies from above.

Now things were getting good.

* * *

They just stared at each other. Or at least that was what Saya _thought_, she couldn't see his eyes through that oddly frightening mask. After a few more seconds passed, he started walking towards her and closed the last foot between them. With what seemed to be a tentative hand, the Black Reaper raised a finger and gently brushed her side swept bangs back to reveal a thin one inch cut on her forehead. It wasn't very deep but blood still marred his glove as he ran a gentle hand over it. Letting Saya's bangs drop back into place, he lowered his hand to her collar bone, where a slightly deep cut was staining her clothes and her skin. The cool leather of his gloves was oddly soft against her skin; they were well worn. What Saya couldn't do was imagine his face. She couldn't imagine what he looked like; certainly not like a monster, he was being far to gentle for that, but she couldn't even try and guess what he looked like. He suddenly dropped his hands.

"Get to a hospital quickly." This was directed at Kono and Saya didn't have any time to analyse the voice at all, though she thought it sounded familiar, maybe. Then again her ears were still ringing a bit from all the explosions.

"What are you-"

"Kono!" Kirihara's voice echoed off the shipping containers and interrupted whatever he was about to retort with.

All of three of them snapped to attention and when Saya turned back he was gone.

"Kono, you out here?" Saito's voice followed.

"Are you injured?"

"KONO, FUCKING ANSWER!" Saito's holler reached them and finally Kono recovered his faculties.

"We're here!" he screamed loudly, "HERE!"

"By 'we' I assume the hellish monster is with you," November 11 appeared along with everyone. They seemed unharmed for the most part; April had a large gnash on her shoulder and November 11's shoulder was bleeding but the cops and the kid were alright.

"I'm too tired to care about you right now," Saya replied and turned to Saito and Misako, "Kono's hurt. It's not life threatening, but he needs a doctor."

"Did you guys kill the other two?" Kono asked as Saito helped him up.

"We dropped a shipping container on them," Misaki explained, "They were injured but escaped before we could apprehend them."

Pity.

"What happened to you two?" They had found the body of another contractor not very far away next to a rather large crater, but it was hardly plausible that Kono, a young cop, could have taken down a skilled contractor.

"The Black Reaper saved us," Saya replied thoughtfully.

Kirihara and November 11 exchanged glances.

After much begging and pleading with Misaki, Saya was finally allowed back to her apartment to gather her clothes and personal belongings. They were setting her up at yet another safe house and yes, this time it was actually to be a safe house of sorts. Not a shipping container. Even Kirihara had to admit that a shipping container was a stretch; not November 11's most brilliant move, not that he would never admit that. The day's incident also led to the more troubling conclusion that somehow BK201, or the Black Reaper, was also involved in all of this. However, he didn't hurt or kidnap Saya when he had the chance, so as usual, Misaki couldn't guess quite what he was thinking or what he was up to.

"You're going to have to on your own," Kirihara informed her. They had driven around the city for nearly two hours, making sure they had no tails behind them and that it was safe to let Saya out of the car, "Find some place to stay. Don't tell anyone you're real name." Saito had a small black case in his hand which he passed to her, "That has a cell phone and a credit card under an old alias. The cell has my and November 11's numbers in it. In case of an emergency."

"As far as we know these people don't have a doll out looking for you, but just in case, try stay indoors," Saito added, "Doctor said you had a minor concussion so take it easy."

"Try not to call at an inconvenient time," November 11 retorted tiredly from beside her. Leaned into the smooth leather seat of the car, he had his sunglasses pulled over his face and was still mourning the loss of his previously crisp and brand new suit.

"I'll be sure to call just in time to cock block you while you're at the hostess bar," she retorted crisply and then turned seriously back to Kirihara, "Is Kono going to be okay?"

"Yeah, we're gonna go pick him up once we've dropped you off," Saito replied. The car slowed to a stop in an empty parking lot.

"We'll contact you on that phone if we get anything," Misaki nodded as the girl.

"Listen Saya," November 11 caught her arm before she could move, "It's going to hit you, maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow. Everything you saw today is going make your mind heavy. When that happens, don't fight it. Just take a deep breath and accept any emotion that comes to you."

Those words didn't make any sense. They didn't even strike some sort of chord with her; all Saya could do was nod.

With a swallow and deep set look in her eyes, she slipped out of the car and pulled her duffel bag over her shoulder along with her purse. Saluting the car farewell, she waited until it was out of sight and then started walking. For an hour she must have walked and it was only until late evening that realized she was walking straight towards the gate. Shaking her head of the daze it was in, Saya turned around and decided to start hunting for a room and some dinner. It was high time she got out of the street. Eventually she found a somewhat rundown looking hotel not far away from Li's apartment if she remembered correctly. After paying for the room for the whole week, she headed up stairs and jumped into a warm shower. Her mind wandered to the day's events, which had been nothing if not hectic. Her entire body ached and a migraine was forming behind her eyes.

"I miss London," she muttered for not the last time that night. Up till now Japan had been quite good; it was hard work, but Saya got rewards in the form of nice apartments, lots of money and many excuses to go shopping. Now, sitting in this dank hotel with terrible fish n chips, Saya longed to be back home. At the moment she would even take her father's surly companionship over being alone.

_Her father._ Both a constant thorn in her side and a loved one. Koujo Lin was never one for many words and could hold a grudge; both were the reasons for the radio silence between Saya and her father for the last few months. New years eve; she shuddered at the thought, remembering the tumultuous visit.

While she ate that strange plate of fish n chips, Saya perused the poetry book she bought just that morning. It was a small compilation of both modern and classic poets. After flipping through a few pages, her hand stopped at a particular

_A caged bird sings_

_With fearful trill_

_Of things unknown_

_But longed for still_

_And his tune is heard_

_On the distant hill _

_For the caged bird_

_Sings of freedom_

(Maya Angelou)

His voice. The Black Reapers' voice, whether familiar or not, held something she had not heard in a very long time. There was a sort of resignation in his voice; a strange terrible calm of a person trapped by circumstance. Like a person who was never really given a chance. Again her mind wandered back to that moment where he had watched her. She never saw his eyes, Saya couldn't say she knew what he was thinking, or what his motivations were, but his hand had been purposeful. No doubt he could have snapped her neck or stolen her away and thrust her into some hell but he didn't. What remained was why? Did he feel pity or humanity towards her, or was Saya simply a part of his orders? For some reason those words on that page made her nervous. If the Black Reaper had song surely he would sing it. If he was trapped surely he would've tried to free himself.

A cage with no exits. That would be a difficult trap to escape from. But BK201 had strength and cunning on his side. Shaking her head away from these darks thoughts, Saya turned the page and started reading some John Donne instead.

Outside her window and across the street, Hei sat long after her light went out. It had taken Yin a ridiculously short amount of time to figure out exactly where Saya was hiding out. In fact, he had been tracking her progress since Misaki left her in that parking garage. The only time he had been faintly worried was when she started walking aimlessly towards the gate, but once she realized, Saya walked away so it was fine. Currently, she had chosen a room on the first floor of an out of the way hotel that was near the back exit and had a view of the street. She was a smart one, but that was unsurprising also. From what he could see through her window, she was reading the book she bought from his little shack.

It curious that she had bought it at all. That bookstore and that book were irrelevant to her as far as Hei knew, but not only had she stopped to see him, she had also purchased a book, of poetry no less. Putting the thought out of his mind, he pulled himself up to the roof. It was cloudy and for once, he couldn't see the see the stars, which was a blessing. There was a certain drunken bookshop owner that was in need a little bit of interrogating.

* * *

It was early the next morning, in the light of day that Saya felt a smidgen of normalcy return to her. The night had yielded nothing but bad dreams and a restless sleep. Like every other day she showered, dressed and blow dried her hair. Eyeliner and mascara were next followed by a large cup of a hot beverage, the distinction between coffee and tea was ignored. She swallowed the hot coffee black in a few gulps and felt a touch better. Then she packed up her things and stowed her duffel bag in the back of the closet. Grabbing her purse, she headed out. True enough her safety would benefit from her spending the day in her room, but Saya's sanity would suffer greatly. Yesterday's events seemed far away and Saya felt energized by the cold stiff breeze that flew through her hair. In a few blocks, she found herself at Li's apartment.

A few knocks later she hard movement on the other side of the door.

"Saya, good morning," Li was rubbing his eyes tiredly. It was only then that she realized that it was hardly eight o clock on a Sunday.

"Oh shoot, sorry, it's really early!" she apologized quickly, "I'm just gonna go!"

"No, no, its fine," Li quickly stopped her, "Come on in. I'll make a quick breakfast."

Once again, she was settled comfortably on his counter, while Li cracked an egg expertly into a frying pan and let it sizzle.

"Sunny side up?" he asked.

"Yeah sure, I'll get the tea started," Saya replied bounding forward. After rummaging through is cupboard for a few minutes she located two relatively clean cups, two tea bags and set some hot water on the second burner of Li's stove. He seemed unperturbed by her snooping through his cupboards. If he was careless enough to leave anything secret so poorly hidden he deserved to be found out, "So a quick warning. I'm supposed to be 'laying low', so just avoid telling anyone about me."

She earned herself a curious look from her comrade, "...Alright."

"Thanks for feeding me. Again."

He nodded, his gaze not leaving he form. He was looking for weakness. Judging by the fact that Saya hadn't even known that it was very early and that it was Sunday morning, she was probably suffering more than she let on. Yesterday's events must have jarred her psyche somewhat, he was looking for chinks in her mental armour that he could maybe exploit in the future if he needed too.

_Exploit._ Guilt bubbled in his gut again. Sitting there, studying her like she was a mark or a target made him feel unhappy. It bought back the reality that he was the Black Reaper and if she somehow became a nuisance to the syndicate, then they would no doubt order her death. And if she proved to be of use, then they would never uncage her again. He was suffering the latter fate, but wondered if death was any worse.

It reminded him that he was not just Li Shenshun and they were not just sitting and eating breakfast. There was a much bigger game afoot and even he didn't have all the cards yet to win.

"It's no problem," Li answered after a few seconds, "So to what do I owe this pleasure?"

She swallowed, stalling for time to think of a legitimate answer.

_I was attacked yesterday and needed to talk to someone mostly sane_, didn't seem like a good way to start of the day.

"I was just feeling lonely you know," she replied shrugging as casually as she could, "It's been a few weeks and I have yet to make any new friends."

_Other than a bastard MI6 agent, a young roguish cop who was now in the hospital and a kind, but incredibly serious police chief._

"Yeah, I get that," He replied with a nod, starting on his forth egg and sixth slice of toast, "It's nice to have a friendly face to talk too."

"Yeah," she replied, setting her chopsticks down. It wasn't as though she could actually talk to him, but there was one question that was on her tongue; "You never told me what you think about contractors and dolls and the whole thing."

The question wasn't one often asked of a contractor. Humans didn't care how contractors labelled themselves. Quite the opposite, they would prefer it if contractors and dolls never really questioned anything and only followed orders. It was too bad that so many contractors did; maybe they would have easier lives if they didn't.

"Contractors and dolls, they must feel something." He certainly did. Not all the time and sometimes it wasn't even a very powerful emotion, just something simple like a touch of vertigo as he stared down from twenty stories up or a feeling of longing when he saw a mother hugging her child, "I guess it comes back to the stars. We all want the old sky back, but for that to happen all the new ones need to disappear."

"I guess I contradicted myself last time," Saya commented lightly, "I wanted the old sky, but I don't want anyone to die." Her thoughts went to the contractors she had just met; April and July were odd, but didn't seem inhuman. Admittedly, November 11 was annoying as hell, but she didn't hate him; quite the opposite, arguing with him made the dismalness of yesterday bearable, "In that case, I guess I could get used to the new stars."

For some reason, those words brought a little bit of happiness to Li. It was one of those small moments where he truly felt.

"I guess that's good news for contractors everywhere," Li replied, sending her a smile. His eyes were guarded as though he dared believe that a normal human might actually consider contractors to be human. They ate in silence after that. It was obvious to Saya that he was hiding something from her, something crucial. Like Lin was. They both had the same guarded look in their eyes. She pushed her plate away, feeling a little sick, "Are you alright?"

"I just feel a little sick," she replied, pulling her knees up to the her chest, Saya felt like she was five years old again, only this time she was trying to run from her own ghosts rather than dead ones, "Yesterday was..." _Difficult, awful, gory, eye opening?_ "long. It was long." She could've ended up like three dead men.

"Yeah, you look a little tired," Li replied, his gaze once again piercing through her.

Suddenly Kirihara's words made complete sense. It was shock that freezing her mind and making her entire body shut down. Not just about yesterday's event, no those just tipped the scales of her mind. Everything, every single piece of horrible information she had gotten in the last few months seemed too heavy a burden to bear. Tears pricked her eyes and Saya knew she had to leave. Right at this moment, she wasn't comfortable with the only person in the city who might have understood her. He was keeping secrets, she could tell and Saya didn't know if she could handle anymore secrets.

"I'm gonna go," she stood up gingerly and quickly grabbed her coat, yanking it on haphazardly.

"Wait, I'll come with you," Li stood up, sensing that leaving her alone wouldn't be the best idea.

"No that's fine, I've interrupted your day enough," Saya was long gone before Li could reach for his coat. With a surly expression, he glared at the opposing wall. Despite all his training, he had no idea what he did wrong just then.

"They're harder to understand, we often take that fact for granted," Mao appeared at his windowsill, "now tell me what you found out from that bookkeeper."

* * *

Saya didn't know where she was going, all she was doing was trying to control the onslaught of emotions that ran through her brain. The image of those three men splayed open kept ripping through her composure and the sounds of explosions brought her migraine back. Even the cool wind couldn't shake her mind into coherency. A hard fabric covered body blocked her path and Saya realized too late to move out of the way.

"Arse over tea kettle as the Americans say," a smooth British voice commented while Saya sat on the floor numbly.

"Jack?" she looked up to see the MI6 agent in a black suit this time, with yet another cigarette in his mouth. He had just taken care of a few thugs that wandering the area and thus had to pay his retribution, not that Saya knew that. Accepting his hand, she felt herself pulled into standing position.

"I take it your in shock," he commented lightly, "Come alone. We'll find you a nice large chocolate cake and perhaps a drink or two to drown your sorrows." His chatter was annoying and he was far too self confident, but at the moment Saya used his words an anchor to hold on to. With a nod, she followed him down the street. She just let him talk. On some level he seemed to understand what she needed and didn't insult her too heavily, just enough to coax a tiny smile. He was a charmer after all.

* * *

Stumbling out of the bar, Saya leant heavily on Jack and chuckling away as he went on about some strange incident in Damascus where he found himself in trouble with an old lady at a tea shop. The story wasn't all that funny, but after downing that cup of JD, Saya found it quite humorous that November 11 had almost let that tea shop get blown up because of a brown tea kettle. It was well past dark and she was feeling a pleasant buzz in her mind that completely drowned out her emotions.

"I swear, the lady wielded that broom with the ferocity of a lion!" he exclaimed loudly, feeling a slight buzz himself. Giving a loud laugh, he brandished his hand forward like thrusting a broom at something, "MI6 ended covering up the damage and no one blew up, so all in all it was successful enough."

"_Successful enough_." She chortled loudly, "You know you're a dumbass _when_."

"Laugh my friend, but you will not find another man who can tangle with a tea vixen like me," Jack retorted with a smirk on his lips. She was feeling better that much obvious; it had even been worth taking her shopping earlier in the afternoon. Drinking was more for him to recover entering store upon store where Saya would try on five sizes of the same shirt and buy one.

They were walking down a desolate road when Jack froze. Standing in the intersection were three men, all covered in tattoos carrying what looked to tasers.

"Uh-Oh," Saya raised an eyebrow. The men started walking towards them with menacing looks on their faces.

"Ah lovely," he flicked out his phone and hit speed dial, "July, hello!"

"Are you drunk?" the child asked hearing that tell tale slur in his friend's voice.

"That's beside the point, we have a little road block," Jack explained hiccupping a little bit, "Are they off the human variety?" it was a few seconds later that the doll answered.

"They're ordinary humans."

"Excellent," he slipped his phone back into his pocket, "It's quite alright, these are thugs of the ordinary garden variety. No special powers."

A smirk appeared on Saya's face, "In that case, I'll take the one of the left."

In one pace they were close enough, and in a quick dash, Saya tacked the thug on the left, surprise just enough on his face to send him to the ground, with Saya landing on top. Raising a fist she hurled it at his jaw and quickly backed off as the gangster climbed back to his feet.

"And I get two?" Jack smirked, not surprised that the woman had some self defence training, "How generous." With a quick punch, he attacked the first of his opponents.

The man, jarred by his skull bashing against the concrete, threw a wild haymaker at Saya who aptly blocked and ducked both his flying fists and jumped out of his reach. The man spat a mouthful of blood onto the side walk and stared down his opponent. She was just skilled enough to be a threat and attempting a few wild punches wouldn't be enough to scare her off, he was starting to understand that. She was small and could hardly have much brute strength, but she was fast. He tried a straight charge with the taser held in front of him. Grabbing his wrist, Saya punched him in the stomach and kneed him in the ground. Then she performed a perfect 'flying guillotine', wrapped her legs around his torso and spun them around as he fell so he was on his back and she was on top of him. The taser was pressed against his torso.

"Nice try fool." She stared at him malevolently before pressing the button. He was out in less than three seconds.

Mean while Jack had dispatched one man who laying on the floor stone cold. He looked to have a broken nose and his arm was bent at an odd angle. The remaining thug caught Jack from behind, but before he could be tazed, the MI6 agent raised an elbow and struck the man in the temple. He fell like a stone in water and Jack straightened his tie.

"Well that's certainly a good way to get the blood rushing," was his only comment before he offered Saya his arm. The two continued on their way as nothing had stopped in the first place. Form his place on a roof top, Hei watched mildly impressed before dashing off.

* * *

"You lot have drawn far too much attention to yourselves," big boss-man, or woman as it was, was not happy. In fact, she had a rather striking glare on her face; her youth clashed horribly with that dreadful look, but no one told her that. It was easier just to take her displeasure and correct one's behaviour than trying to argue with her. So the two men accepted their blunder. Tuxedo was dead, killed, by Hei and no one really felt the loss that much. They hadn't even known his name, "First those three men in the warehouse and then the incident at the port."

"We're just trying to find that formula," the taller of the two, the one who could make steam, commented reasonably despite the furtive glances his partner shot him, "It would enhance our abilities."

"I told you before it wasn't important," she retorted sharply. They were trying achieve something important, their very lives depended on it and these fools were wasting their time with one drug. It was ridiculous. Enhancing their abilities wouldn't help if the Saturn ring was used to _annihilate _them.

"Yes Amber," the replied solemnly, "But what about the spiritualist girl."

"I don't like her." A woman like that could find out their whole plan and ruin everything. She had the skills certainly, "Get rid of her."

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *

Yay! thank you asolomon for reviewing! In fact, I should thank everyone who favorited and alerted too! I didn't think I'd get any kind of response to this story at all, but you guys are awesome.

Sorry for making everyone wait so long for this chapter. Really this fic is something sort of on the backburner and whenever I get the muse, I just sort of pour out pages and pages of writing. Hopefully its not to disappointing.

Thanks again!

Veil out.


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